v^ 



a> 



yjV 



THE 
FAMILY INCOME 



By 

W. H. BLACK 

Adveriismg Manager of The Delineator 



NEW YORK 



Zbc jFamil^ Ifncome 



THE 
FAMILY INCOME 



BY 

W. H. Black 

Advertising Manager of The Delineator 



NEW YORK 






LIBRARY at CONGRESS 
One Gopy rteceived 

MAY 20 1^/ 

iConjfrient tiitry 

(^ASS CC XXC. No 

COPY B. 



Copyright, 1907, 

BY 

W. H. Black 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 






\o^ 



DEDICATED 



Reputable Manufacturer, the Square 
Dealer and the Intelligent Buyer 



The Friends and Supporters of Trade 
Integrity, and the Three Factors, Who, 
by Honest Production, Honorable 
Methods and the Recognition of Right, 
Encourage the Best and Raise the 
Average of the Common Good. 



VII 



INDEX 

The Makers op Quality 1 

The Substitution Evil ... .... 8 

The Value of the Trade-Mark 16 

Fixing the Standards 21 

The Dealers in Quality 27 

The Family Income .... .... 33 



PREFACE 

IT may be too much to expect that this Uttle book will 
strike a new note in the trade of our busy world, but 
the hope is ventured that it will catch and interpret 
for you the better spirit that has come into our 
dealings with one another. 

To-day the finest fact in our nation's life is that it has 
added quahty to quantity. For more than a century 
we boasted of our country's bigness, of its exhaustless 
natural resources and of its money totals. That was 
the broad — and sound — basis of our development. On 
this basis our progressive manufacturers have erected 
new standards — and the best of modern business has 
adjusted its methods to these standards. But the 
record is not complete — it seldom is in the affairs of 
men and especially in the ramifications of merchandiz- 
ing ; and so it is meet that we take counsel together and 
find what we can do. 

First we must see that the evils are both within and 
without. Of five thousand seven hundred and forty- 
nine samples of imported food products examined by 
the federal authorities last year one thousand two 
hundred and forty-six, or more than twenty per cent., 
were found not to comply with the law. Some of the 
European countries that have strict laws against adul- 
teration and substitution make generous exceptions in 

XI 



the case of goods manufactured "for export." So 
much for the dangers from abroad (although a book on 
the subject might be written). In the United States 
the maker of standard goods must fight swarms of 
imitators and this fight is as much in the interest 
of the consumer as it is of himself. Universal attention 
has been called to the general conditions by the Pure 
Food Law which went into effect this year, but as this 
law is only a regulation of interstate commerce it can 
affect only a small part of a large division — for pure 
food is only a division of the much larger subject of 
Substitution. Our present advantage is that we have 
come to an era of agitation and inquiry — and thus the 
buyers are finding out the value of quality, standards 
and trade-marks. This small volume is a contribution 
to the cause. 

As the responsible party between the manufacturer 
and the consumer, the dealer may easily become the 
target of an unjust cross-fire. There are many 
thousands of dealers of the very highest character and 
responsibiUty. To these both the manufacturer and 
the consumer owe not oiily recognition but unfaltering 
support. There are thousands more who will improve 
their methods when they know the facts and realize 
that the only merchandizing that can be really success- 
ful must be founded on quality and satisfaction — and 
these, we hope, will read this book. There are others 
who may not want to be converted, and perhaps you 
will see why — if you follow our argument — they 
should be watched. 

Asked to name the biggest thing in our land, you 
might reply the national debt of two and a quarter 
bilhons, or the marvelous revenues of our government, 
reaching almost a billion a year, or the reputed fortune 
of our most unpopular plutocrat. Roll them into one 



and you would not have the Family Income of America. 
It is the biggest fact of all history. Beside its tall 
colimm other totals shrink. 

You have your part in it and of it. And your part is 
more real and more important to you than all the rest. 
So your interest in this consideration of certain evils 
and remedies that concern your pocket-book ought to 
begin at the opening and keep right on to the end. 



XIII 



CHAPTER I 

THE MAKERS OF QUALITY 

What a visitor found seventy years ago — manu- 
facturing PROGRESS slow AT FIRST — FACTORIES 
looked more to quantity, but THE ERA OF 
QUALITY BEGAN — THE WONDERFUL ADVANCE — 
NOW THERE ARE STANDARD ARTICLES FOR EVERY 
NEED, STANDARDS NOT ONLY FOR AMERICA BUT 
FOR THE WORLD. 

IN the first half of the past century there came to 
America one of the most remarkable young men 
the world ever knew. He had noble blood in his 
veins, but his soul was full of the love of liberty. 
His visit to America was to find out what the people 
were doing for self-government and human progress. 
He caught the full spirit of the United States and 
absorbed aU the facts, and he gave to the world 
De Toqueville's "Democracy in America," which is more 
widely read as the years go by. 

In those early days our people did not have at hand 
all they wanted; so they proceeded to make it. "In 
America it sometimes happens," observed the visitor, 
"that the same individual tills his field, builds his 
dwelling, contrives his tools, makes his shoes and 
weaves the coarse stuff of which his dress is composed. 
This circumstance is prejudicial to the excellence of his 
work, but it powerfully contributes to awaken the 
inteUigence of the workmen." 



THE FAMIL Y INCOME 

That was seventy years ago. The right force was at 
work, for that which awakens the intelligence of the 
workmen is the greatest of all powers for future achieve- 
ment. 

"America is a land of wonders in which everything is 
in constant motion and every movement seems an 
improvement," he wrote again. 

First the awakening of intelligence ; then the spirit of 
motion and improvement, and lastly the enterprise 
and ambitions as expressed in this prophetic sentence: 

"No natural boundary seems to be set to the efforts 
of man and what is not yet done is only what he has not 
attempted to do." 

It would require a dozen volumes as large as an 
unabridged dictionary to tell what the American has 
attempted to do — and what he has done — since the 
first half of the past century. 

Easily the most widely beneficial and most important 
to the comfort and health of the world has been the 
work of the American manufacturers. 

We find our heroes among soldiers and our popular 
idols among statesmen. Let us not quarrel with it — 
because it is the way of the world — but the man who 
stands at the head of things in the actual results is the 
manufacturer. It will be worth your while to read 
this paragraph taken from a recent address by a dis- 
tinguished American orator to a great business body: 

"Industry is moved by the spirit of conquest, but its 
victories are the victories of peace, of prosperity, of 
enlightenment. Its miracles are without number. 
It has dismantled the walls of cities, broken down the 
barriers between nations and made the standing 
armies relics of a time that is passing. It is supplanting 

2 



BOPV TO SPEND IT 

the reign of force ^-ith a rational ci\-ilization. Instead 
of the nations devoting their energies to conquering 
each other they are now emulating one another in the 
struggle to conquer nature. To compel nature to 
slave for man, to harness her forces in the work of 
transmuting the resources of the earth into commodities 
of consumption, to amplify over and over again that 
geometrical rule of industry that two blades of grass 
can be made to grow where formerly there was but one, 
to develop an ever-increasing use of means and methods 
for cheapening and enlarging production in order to 
advance the standard of li\ing for a rapidly growing 
population— that is the world's work to-day. In all 
the generations of man there has been no greater 
work." 

Expressed in figures this work is even more eloquent 
than the language of the orator. Think for a moment 
that the manufactured products of the United States 
have increased from less than two billion dollars in 
1860 to more than seventeen bUlion dollars for 1906! 

In that you have not only a story of bigness but the 
many higher efforts of manufacturers to produce things 
of the finest quality to meet every need. 

In fact it is the manufacturer who has given us our 
high average of prosperity and most of the comforts 
which we enjoy to-day. 

We have now a population of about eighty-five 
millions. In another ten years it will be over one 
hundred millions and in twenty-five years it will be 
between one hundred and forty millions and one 
hundred and fifty milhons. Many young men and 
certainly many boys who read these words will Uve to 
see the population two hundred millions. How will 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

they get along? How will they hve? Better than we 
do to-day, for it is the careful calculation of people who 
have studied such things that the two hundred milHons 
of 1950 will have more potentiaUty than four hundred 
millions could accomplish to-day. 

We need not be discouraged, then, for if we look back 
we may find that our eighty-five millions to-day are 
doing more than two or three hundred millions of 
seventy years ago could possibly achieve with the 
facilities and knowledge of that day. 

It is only by taking these totals and seeing the 
tremendous differences that we can appreciate the 
really great things that have come about. It is not 
so much that wonderful improvements have been 
wrought but that there has been a constant multi- 
pUcation of needs which industry and invention had 
to supply. 

To all these figures add the facts one to another and 
you will begin to see something of the part that the 
manufacturer has played in the convenience of your 
life. 

One of the greatest of these manufacturers has 
declared that, "It is the innate American characteristic 
to do and to excel." That characteristic has been at 
work ever since the visiting Frenchman noted the 
awakening of intelligence of the workmen two genera- 
tions ago. 

So it has come about that in every one of the articles 
needed by the individual and in the home and for the 
daily requirements of the race there has been some one 
reaching for and attaining a particular excellence. 

In no respect has America so outdone history as in the 
number and strength of the standards she has erected. 



HOW TO SPEND IT 

And our manufacturers have erected more standards 
than any other part of our population. 

Not many years ago the staff of Ufe was gathered 
from the fields and crudely ground. There was no 
choice. We all had to take practically the same rough 
product. To-day we have it in a hundred forms, 
handled with a cleanness and a beauty never dreamed 
of. It may be a breakfast food or it may be cake, 
done up in attractive packages. 

Mark this, too ; not only is there an astonishing variety, 
but for each class there is a product of standard quality. 
If our grandfathers who wove the coarse stuff of 
which their dress was composed could visit the cotton 
and cloth mills to-day, how great would be their 
wonder! Here is where America has made amazing 
progress and yet it has only begun to do the work that 
is marked out for it. The time is coming when American 
dress materials will be as standard as American foods 
or American machinery. 

The point is that for every thing you need there are 
one or more standard articles which have been pro- 
duced for you by the enterprise and higher intelligence 
of the progressive manufacturer. 

It is easy for everyone, by the exercise of the right 
care, to get the full benefit of this best production. 
The manufacturer who makes a standard is a practi- 
cal public benefactor. In many instances he faces 
bankruptcy rather than lower his ideals. He experi- 
mented with machinery, materials and men and kept 
on in his work until his product was so superior as to be 
practically perfect. 

In addition to that, he protected the quality and 
reputation of his product by constant improvement. 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

He goes ahead of those who produce ordinary goods 
and he keeps ahead, and while it is to his interest to do 
so, it is certainly also for the benefit of the consumer- 

In this age excellence does not mean expensivcness. 
The producer of the best knows that in order to per- 
manently succeed he must make his price low^just as 
near to cost as he possibly can. The whole idea of 
modern manufacture is to secure the profit on the 
wideness of the sale — a fraction on each article but so 
many articles sold that the total will represent financial 
success. 

Thus it happens that the manufacturer of to-day 
spends his great fortune, his genius and the efforts of 
his men for you — the person who buys. It may be 
that the article costs only a nickel or a dime, but behind 
it are the investments of millions, the work of years and 
the unceasing efforts of those American workmen whose 
mtelUgence is always being awakened to larger pur- 
poses and finer results. 

There is even more in the thoroughness of the care 
that is thrown around these goods of quality. 

The strength of the chain is its weakest link. The 
strength of the standard article is its minimum quality. 
A single consignment of bad goods might wreck an 
investment of millions. So it can be seen how neces- 
sary it is for the makers of quality articles to keep up 
their standards to the highest possible average. They 
spend fortunes every year in bettering their products. 
The buyers receive the benefit of all this without 
additional cost. 

The tendency of standard articles is upward — in 
everything but price. 

It happens rather curiously that the manufacturer in 



HO W TO SPEND IT 

his wonderful enterprise has not only turned to the 
public good every product and every part of it, but that 
he has also worked great changes in the relation of 
things. 

For instance, in the past three or four years all the 
metals have advanced in usefulness so largely that 
gold alone has fallen, measuring its price by the power 
of purchasing other commodities. 

Somewhat in the same way, values have been redis- 
tributed through the efforts of the manufacturer who 
has brought within the reach of all the best quality at 
the fairest price. 



CHAPTER II 
THE SUBSTITUTION EVIL 

How GOOD DEALERS ARE FOOLED AND HOW BAD 
DEALERS FOOL GOOD CUSTOMERS — MOST WIDE- 
SPREAD LOSS OF MODERN TIMES — HOWEVER LOW 
THE PRICE THE SUBSTITUTE GETS THE LARGER 
PROFIT AND THE BUYER RECEIVES SMALLER VALUE 
— NO RESPON.SIBILITY OR SATISFACTION — PERIL 
OF GERMS AND DISEASES IN MATERIALS. 

NEARLY every article made by man for man's 
use is or has been abased by man for 
purposes of gain." This statement will be 
found in one of our most conservative encyclopedias. 
It is signed by Dr. Cjo-us Edson, who was one 
of the first authorities on adulteration and similar 
evils. 

Thus far we have followed the story of the making of 
the quality products. It has been very pleasant read- 
ing and we heartily wish there was no darker side, but 
unhappily, for every standard article produced by the 
honorable manufacturer and purveyed to the customer 
by the honest merchant, there are scores of imitations 
and frauds that seek to steal the good name of the 
superior product. Thus broadly, we have the sub- 
stitution evil, which is one of the greatest swindles of 
the times, and which represents more damage to the 
family income than all other losses combined. 

First, let us find out how substitution is regarded. 



HOW TO SPEND IT 

Under the new law of Congress, any person guilty of 
adulteration or misbranding within, the reach of the 
act "shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each 
offense shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to 
exceed five hundred dollars or shaU be sentenced to one 
year's imprisomnent, in the discretion of the court, and 
for each subsequent offense and conviction thereof, 
shall be fined not less than one thousand dollars or 
sentenced to one year's imprisonment, or both, such 
fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. 
This settles pretty clearly the criminal responsibility of 
the person who deals in substitution, for substitution 
means both adulteration and misbranding. 

In a notable speech in the last Congress Mr. Mann, a 
leader in pure food legislation, excited the laughter of 
his colleagues and at the same time produced a pro- 
found impression by taking from the many adultera- 
tions and frauds or exhibit there , a particular instance, 
following it with this comment: , . , i 

"One of the articles upon the table here which has 
attracted some attention is a sample of honey, m the 
preparation of which the acumen of man has really 
reached its highest point. The specimen is composed 
of glucose, but it still deceives by containing a bug or a 
bee Who, when looking at the clear amber substance, 
with a bee floating in it, would suspect that it had never 
seen the inside of a hive, but only came from the glu- 
cose factory?" , , 

We take this to illustrate the general instincts of the 
man who adulterates or who substitutes. Putting a 
bee in glucose is the same kind of morality as imitating 
a label or offering something "just as good." 

In the easy tolerations of some people excuse is 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

found for the dealer who knowingly substitutes on the 
ground that it is his business to sell at the largest profit. 

Make no mistake about his culpability. 

In the law for pure food, substitution for purposes of 
deception is clearly defined and with honest folks there 
can never be any question as to what it means. Its 
effect is not only to deceive the consumer but to rob the 
producer. "Everywhere," we quote from the proceed- 
ings of Congress, "the honest manufacturer, the honest 
dealer, is met with competition more or less keen and 
dangerous by the use of adulterated or shortweighted 
goods." 

We find in the official records so many cases that one 
stands appalled. Here, for instance, are twelve sub- 
stitutes for cocoa, a half dozen substitutes for pepper, 
including nut shells and sawdust; eight substitutes for 
olive oil, and so on down the list. We even find adul- 
teration in noodles. 

All liquors, from bitters to brandy, are now made 
without any original liquor in them at all. 

Similar business rascality is practised in clothing 
materials and building materials, in furnishing and 
scores of things that aft'ect the health and well-being 
of the home. In Europe they are making substitution 
silk out of wood pulp! 

It simply comes to the point that no intelligent 
person who investigates the subject will risk the use of 
an article that does not bear upon it the label or the 
trade-mark of a reputable producer. 

Within the past year two important American com- 
munities and one leading American school were pros- 
trated by typhoid fever. In all three cases investiga- 
tion showed that the milk supply had been adulterated 

10 



HO W TO SPEND IT 

and contaminated with surface water. When the milk 
swindlers decided to cheat their customers they had no 
conscience about pollution. It is that way with sub- 
stitutes for standard articles. The water in the milk 
means disease and suffering — often death. Substitu- 
tion lets in all the dangers. Some day we shall have 
drastic laws to punish criminals who put water in milk, 
and we shall have laws for the swindlers who practise 
the other kinds of substitution. In the meanwhile be 
sure of your milkman and of your tradesmen if you 
would protect the health of your family. 

Substitution covers most of the articles in the list of 
the day's purchasing. It is in the food you eat, the 
clothes you wear, the houses you build and furnish. 

For practically every need and purpose there are one 
or more standard articles guaranteed and protected by 
trade-marks. These you can purchase with absolute 
safety. 

For every established trade-mark there are scores of 
imitators who seek larger profits by inferior wares. 

Expressed in figures this evil means hundreds of mil- 
lions of dollars in cheap brands and stolen values. 

And the worst of it is that substitution seldom keeps 
its particular form long enough to be caught. It is 
constantly changing, with all the cleverness of its kind, 
and thus behind even the best of it there is no respon- 
sibility on which the consumer can obtain the shghtest 
recourse. 

It is a plain proposition that while you have before 
you the things that are good and dependable, it is wit- 
less and improvident to take other things that are 
neither honest nor true. Indeed, it is so very self-evi- 
dent that one feels a certain superfluity in impressing it. 

11 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

But this paradox has been explained in the previous 
chapter. It is only in recent years that the manufac- 
turers and producers have established enough standards 
in food, raiment and household necessities to make it 
possible for the consumer to buy practically everything 
he needs by simply watching the label. 

That condition, however, now exists. The era of 
quality has arrived. 

Knowing this you should bear in mind always that the 
fight against substitution is your fight and there is not 
a solitary argument against it. 

If the substitution dealer tells you that the substi- 
tute is just as good he speaks falsely. 

If he tells you that the standard article has to charge 
a higher price because of its advertising expense do not 
believe him. The advertising expense of any single 
article you buy is so inconsiderable a part of a penny 
that it can make no difference whatever in the sum you 
pay. 

The articles most widely advertised are cheaper 
because of the advertising, for the simple fact 
that advertising widens the market and vastly in- 
creases the sales. Fortunes on standard articles 
are made on a small fraction profit on the article 
sold, and on the extension of the trade. The sub- 
stitution man has to clean up his profit on his im- 
mediate sale. 

In buying the standard article you always get the 
worth of your money, and, if by any accident you do 
not, you have full recourse from a responsible seller. 
In buying the substitute you never get full value and 
you have no recovery. 

In buying standard articles you save time and worry. 

12 



HO W TO SPEND IT 

You have honest return and satisfaction and you keep 
on buying and receiving these benefits. In the sub- 
stitute not only do you obtain less value but you get an 
uncertainty, and you must fuss and fume over the 
same old problem of making a proper selection the 
next time. 

From every point of view it is to your interest to buy 
the standard article and to see that your dealer keeps it 
in stock. In a wider sense it is your duty as a good 
citizen to encourage the best. You should uphold 
integrity in business as strenuously as you would 
honesty in government. 

No paternal government, no state censorship, no 
police regulation can do the particular duty that 
belongs to you, and all of the forces put together would 
not protect you from substitution unless you co-operat- 
ed with them by watching the labels and seeing that 
you got what you called for. 

You can be your own pure food law, your own 
quality agent, youi' own best protector, and you can- 
not delegate these things to any other person or any set 
of persons. 

And it is not a heavy responsibility. The thing has 
been wonderfully simplified for you. The standard 
articles are within reach ; the labels are on them and if 
you persist your dealer will handle them. 

Thus you can benefit yourself, and, by widening the 
market of the better qualities, do good to your neigh- 
bors and advance the moral and material welfare of 
your community. 

And finally, it is to the women who do most of the 
buying that we must look for constant watchfulness in 
this crusade against the makeshifts and counterfeits 

13 



THE FAMIL Y INCOME 

contrived to rob their pocket books and injure their 
homes. 

Bear in mind that the substitute never fills its 
claims. 

"The great trouble with a pug dog as a professional 
beauty is that his skin is made to fit a shorter dog." 



14 



CHAPTER III 

THE VALUE OF THE TRADE MARK 

Its protection to the purchaser — ^The owner 
must maintain its quality — the good work it 
has done — how it assures satisfaction — 
bringing confidence into buying — a good 

trade-mark a benefaction. 

THE trade-mark is a guarantee to the purchasing 
public. There is no general benefit more fully 
established. It is a comparatively recent institu- 
tion, for it was developed in the nineteenth century, 
and its merits have been adequately recognized only 
within the past twenty-five years. The office of 
the trade-mark is to point out distinctively the origin 
or ownership of the article to which it is affixed. 
It is the label of quality, and selling under the trade- 
mark of another is recognized by the law as false 
representation. 

Justice Bradley used the following in an opinion 
in the Supreme Court, the highest authority in the 
land: 

"It is the object of the law relating to trade-marks to 
prevent one man from unfairly stealing away another's 
business and good- will. Fair competition in business is 
legitimate, and promotes the public good; but an imfair 
appropriation of another's business, by using his name 
or trade-mark, or an imitation thereof calculated to 
deceive the pubUc, or in any other way, is justly punish- 

15 



THE FAMIL Y INCOME 

able by damages, and will be enjoined by a court of 
equity." 

Against the trade-mark two charges are made, both 
equally false and futile. 

The first is that it promotes monopoly. This 
accusation often impresses those who do not take the 
trouble to inquire into the facts. The following is the 
principle of the thing: "No one can claim protection in 
the exclusive use of a trade-mark which would practi- 
cally give him a monopoly in the sale of any goods 
other than those produced or made by himself." If he 
could the public would be injured rather than protected, 
for competition would be destroyed. It may be taken 
for granted, therefore, that the trade-mark does not 
mean monopoly, but that it does mean a standard 
erected by enterprise and protected by law, this protec- 
tion being founded entirely in the powers of the courts 
to prevent fraud. 

Second, the charge is made that the trade-mark 
increases the price to the consumer — simply ah un- 
proved statement which may easily be disproved by 
countless instances. 

When a dealer uses such an argument, he is seeking 
a larger profit on an article which he wants to substi- 
tute for that which bears the trade-mark. This kind of 
production or salesmanship tells you — either in imita- 
tion labels or misleading circulars or easy tradesmen — 
that the substitute contains the same ingredients — 
even sometimes boasting that it is an improvement 
upon what it seeks to represent — and that it costs you 
less because the genuine brand is under the expense of 
maintaining its trade-mark. The man or firm that 
establishes a standard article and advertises it widely 
16 



HOW TO SPEND IT 

must maintain its quality. Advertising any article 
means an invitation to test its merits-or find its 
demerits. Second-raters do not come into the lime- 
Ught, but they all watch the big fellow and try to 
sneak under his coat-tails. , 

The trade-mark is even more for the customers 
benefit than it is for the man who owns it. 

Millions of dollars have been refused for trade-marks. 
In most cases the single product was sold to the pubhc 
for less than twenty-five cents. The value was m the 
universality of the market. The profit was a fraction 
of a cent-but the many fractions made the big total. 
You-the purchaser-got the full benefit of the whole 
investment; your single article could not be better if all 
the millions were put solely into its production, ihat 
is why the trade-mark ought to be your concern- 
why you should seek to protect it by buying only the 
goods behind which you know you wiU find both 
quality and responsibility. ,, u«e 

One who has studied the subject well has 
aptly expressed the truth and philosophy of it as 

follows: J u-., 

"The manufacturer first puts a mark on his goods by 
which you can recognize them as his product, ihen 
he advertises, in order to get the largest possible circle 
of customers, so that by making his goods m large and 
steady quantities, he can keep up the quality, while 
reducing the cost-and thus can feel that no other 
manufacturer can be able to offer you better value. 
A well-known article, ten or fifteen years ago, for 
instance, cost fifteen cents a package. By advertising, 
the makers increased their customers from thousands to 
millions. And, owing solely to that increase of business 
17 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

they were soon able to make and sell that article for 
ten cents. 

"A trade-mark on an article (especially if the trade- 
mark is accompanied by the name of the manufacturer 
who is responsible) gives you assurance that every 
piece of goods with that mark will give the same 
satisfaction. If your first purchase of that article was 
not satisfactory, the trade-mark saves you money 
because you know what to avoid. If the first purchase 
was satisfactory, the trade-mark saves you time on 
every later purchase because you know that goods 
under that "mark" are uniform, and so you do not have 
to stop and examine them every time you purchase. 
It saves you money, too, because if the trade-mark 
was not there to guide you to good value, you would 
still have to buy in the dark, and in many a later pur- 
chase you would get something different — resulting in 
disappointment and perhaps a total loss. The trade- 
mark brings confidence into your buying if you will 
only take thought enough to realize it. 

"Just remember that if a trade-marked article disap- 
points you a first time, the trade-mark loses more than 
you do. You have received less value than you 
expected — but the trade-mark (which might have 
enjoyed your life-long patronage) has lost its chance 
forever. The manufacturer knows this too. So there 
have come to be two divisions of trade-marked articles. 
The first class is of trade-marks that are put on goods 
because the manufacturer knows he is giving you good 
value, and earnestly believes that you will come back 
again for goods under that mark — in other words, on 
'standard' goods, or goods which, though new in the 
market, will become 'standard' in time. 

18 



HO W TO SPEND IT 

"The second class of trade-marks are put on the goods 
without any idea that the goods themselves are 'good 
value and good enough to win re-order.' The mark is 
there to make them look like standard goods and help 
them to sell for the same, or nearly the same, price as 
standard. In blunt words, they are substitutes, often 
manufactured and marked deliberately with that 
purpose." 

A man who builds up a trade-mark by meritorious 
goods and jucUcious publicity is a benefactor, not only 
to his town or city, but particularly to the public 
which wants the best and is willing to pay for it. 
Consider for a moment the fact that, out of a dozen 
things you buy during the day, probably the majority 
are purchased blindly. You pay your money and you 
don't know what you are getting. In the case of a 
trade-marked article that is widely advertised, you do 
know what you are getting, and if there is any fault you 
can have your money back. The man, therefore, 
who builds up a trade-mark brings a higher morality 
into business and a larger safety for all consumers. 

This trade-mark protection extends to the smallest 
as well as to the largest article you buy. It represents 
the standard in every kind and class. It is practical 
insurance of quality and you can no more afford to 
ignore it than you can to disregard any other of the 
useful rules of business. 

We have said that the man who establishes a trade- 
mark is a public benefactor. He brings the best to all. 

This story was told by a friend who was on a walking 
trip last summer through a country district : While at 
a cross-roads store two men rode up seeking something 
to eat. They had lost time by taking a wrong road. 

19 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

One was the head of a great nation and the other was a 
man famous in diplomacy. Glancing at the comiter 
they saw a package of food. At once both exclaimed 
that it was all right. They recognized the label and the 
brand and knew they would be safe eating it, which they 
did with evident relish. 

A few minutes after they had gone a pedler and 
driver came in and bought a similar package, enjoying 
it quite as much as the more distinguished travelers. 

Here was an incident of the very best supplied to the 
extremes of society at the same cost, something abso- 
lutely safe and acceptable provided by a manufacturer 
who had perfected his product and protected it by a 
trade-mark. 

That package selling for a few pennies represented 
the highest efficiency of the plant and organization in 
which were tens of millions of dollars and the benefits of 
it was enjoyed equally by ruler and pedler, diplomat 
and driver. The great worth of standard goods is that 
the label insures to the people of small or moderate 
means not only the full value of their investment but 
personal safety as well. The poor can have the same 
food as the rich. 

As it is in food so it is in the other things. A good 
trade-mark is the practical insurance of a square deal to 
every purchaser. 



20 



CHAPTER IV 
FIXING THE STANDARDS 

How PUBLICITY HAS HELPED — THE ERA OF BIG 
ADVERTISING — BUT ALL ADVERTISING MUST HAVE 
MERIT BEHIND IT TO SUCCEED — NO PROFIT FOR 
POOR PRODUCTS EVEN IN PRODIGAL SPENDING — 
ADVERTISING FATAL TO THE UNWORTHY — IGNOR- 
ANCE ABOUT RELATION OF COST OF ADVERTISING 
TO THE SELLING PRICE OF THE ADVERTISED 
ARTICLE. 

LONG before the era of large advertising, the 
greatest philosopher of the world said: "Be 
not penny- wise; riches have v/ings and some- 
times they fly away of themselves, sometimes they 
must be set flying to bring in more." 

This is distinctly the era of big advertising and it 
may be well for us to clearly understand what we mean 
by big advertising. Let us start with the knowledge 
that no advertising is wise or permanently profitable 
unless it has merit behind it. But having merit behind 
it the only advertising that wins big is big advertising. 
It is not as new as it might seem . Every far sighted man 
who had something to sell and was sure of its quality 
realized that the quickest and surest way to sell it was 
to catch the public attention and drive home his inten- 
tions by bold words. For instance, in 1773 George 
Washington had certain real estate which he wanted to 
dispose of. He saw the advantages of advertising as 

21 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

he saw most things in his day and generation — that is 
more broadly and more intelUgently than any man of 
his day. So he did not spare his adjectives and in the 
newspapers of that year he was the largest advertiser 
not only in space but in the force and meaning of his 
language. 

If we trace the history of publicity for years back we 
find that the big winners have invariably been the big 
advertisers who had meritorious goods for the general 
market. 

The manufacturer came into the field a httle later 
than he should, but now he is doing what he can to 
make up for lost time. 

After the manufacturer had put riches in his quality 
products he found that something remained to be done. 
He knew that they were in his shop and believed he 
could supply the market of the world — but the world 
did not know. So in order to extend the benefit of his 
work and to receive profitable returns from his enter- 
prise he had to give his riches wings and send them as 
messengers to mankind. 

The average manufacturer did not like to advertise. 
His objections were natural and easily understood. 
When he came into the publicity situation he found 
two extremes. 

One was the deadly dulness of the mere business 
card, a survival of the days when communities were 
small and when the important thing was to let people 
know the address of the advertiser and the cargo of the 
latest ship from Europe. 

The other extreme was the wild extravagance of the 
foolish advertisers who fancied they could make a 
success of mere claim and statement full of vain boast- 

22 



HO W TO SPEND IT 

ing and double superlatives and irrespective of the 
question of merit in the goods which they had to offer. 
Even to-day we have persons otherwise sane who 
believe that big advertising can sell anything or make 
a success of any proposition, whether it have quality 
or not — which means with such that it has no real 
quality at all. The shores of pubUcity are strewn with 
the wi'ecks of this kind of folly. 

Gradually the manufacturer came to see that his sal- 
vation was in the wise use of this tremenduous means of 
reaching and stimulating the pubUc interest. He saw 
because someone else might have misused a good 
thing was no reason why he should not employ it well 
and thus make it his chief agency in his work. Thus 
he began and to-day we find that honest advertising of 
meritorious goods has not only been profitable in itself 
but has made the exaggerated advertising of doubtful 
articles ridiculous. The only advertising that pays is 
that which has a fact behind every assertion ; that which 
can make good every pledge, every claim. Whether 
it fill many pages or a few Unes, the rule holds to the 
very letter. 

So the men of sense, enterprise and proportion realize 
that advertising was not a mere circus trick to attract 
the crowd, but that rightly used, it was as much of an 
investment as their own manufacturing plants. 

The big manufacturer does not keep running many 
little plants widely distributed. If he did he would be 
bankrupt in a year. He concentrates. He runs his 
plant in a big way — because that is the only economy. 
It should be the same wdth his advertising. The great 
loss in publicity to-day is in scattering. It is as foolish 
as the scattering of small plants instead of concentrating 

23 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

in the big factory. Thus perhaps one may see wherein 
Ues the wisdom of big advertising done in a big way in 
the big advertising mediums that concentrate their 
energies along the profitable lines and that reach further 
and better and cheaper than any combination or chain 
of little publications could possibly achieve. 

Another good thing the manufacturer has done has 
been truth making in advertising. Advertising never 
could offer and it never can offer anything miraculous. 
The merit of the thing advertised must justify the 
public test. Otherwise the extraordinary invitation 
must be detrimental. Not only would the article 
without merit fail, but the money spent in advertising 
would be a total loss. 

The manufacturer got to know these things and he 
tried the public intelligence by appeals to reason, 
by frankness of statement, by direct and engaging 
address and by pleasing illustration. 

In all the advertising he did he kept steadily in view 
his own responsibility, so that he might stand ready to 
back to the limit every statement he made. 

Thus the manufacturer more than any other user 
of pubUcity created public confidence in advertising. 
Thus several new conditions have come about. The 
advertising pages of our magazines now excel in interest 
for most people their literary text. Mr. Gladstone 
sent back the English editions of American magazines 
because he wanted the advertising pages. We are 
told that Mr. Kipling has a similar liking and he has 
not hesitated to make reference to the advertising 
pages in his UTitings. 

By judicious advertising the man who has created or 
produced a standard of excellence for public utility 

24 



HO W TO SPEND IT 

and general consumption reaches the whole people at 
less expense and in the shortest possible time. If he 
were to employ an army of special representatives he 
could not reach one-tenth the number and his expenses 
would be one hundred times as great, not counting the 
enormous loss of time. 

So when the manufacturer enters upon a big adver- 
tising campaign, those people who see only surface 
indications and who think that he is spending money 
wastefully make a huge mistake. He is in fact practis- 
ing the wisest economy, for he is doing in the shortest 
time and at the smallest expense what might otherwise 
take years to accomplish. 

He finds that this policy brings benefits more certain- 
ly and far more swiftly than compound interest. Thus 
we have the enhghtened manufacturers whose adver- 
tising campaigns, begun modestly decades ago, have 
increased from year to year, most of this increase being 
based upon the percentage of their business growth. 

Here indeed is the very gist of the whole question. 
The advertising forms practically no charge upon the 
business. By the increase in trade that it brings it pays 
for itself many times over, so that the advertised article 
reaches the customer as though it had not been adver- 
tised at all ; that is to say, the advertising expense, by 
the extension of the sale, becomes so small as to be 
practically negUgible. 

It is important to remember this, because the manu- 
facturer who advertises widely hears constantly the 
cries of the little fellows that he charges more because 
he has advertising bills to pay. The proof of his posi- 
tion is the fact that he gives to the pubhc the best 
quaUty and the highest satisfaction at the minimum 
25 



THE FAMIL Y INCOME 

cost, while the little fellows get what price they can 
while seeking to steal his good name. These httle 
fellows offer no responsibility, no remedy for the perils 
and losses arising from the inferiority of their products 
or from their own lack of probity and standing in the 
business world. 

First of all, everlasting credit must be given to the 
manufacturer for producing the articles of quality. 
He has put civilization on a higher plane, made living 
happier and added to the satisfaction and longevity 
of the race. 

Second, the spread of his good work has been due 
to modern advertising. He made the quality and 
bought judicious pubhcity. He has raised and fixed 
for public confidence the standards. All this is for 
the good of the consumer, but it goes further than that, 
for it marks new advances in the honor and safety 
of modern merchandize. 

"Be not penny- wise; riches have wings and some- 
times they fly away of themselves, sometimes they 
must be set flying to bring in more." 



26 



CHAPTER V 

THE DEALERS IN QUALITY 

Something about the new type of merchants — 
the salesman who wins success by taking 
advantage of sound standards and oppor- 
tunities — his value to the public — personal 
responsibility an asset in business — what 
is good-will? — how to obtain and hold it. 

XFTER the manufacturer has produced his 
/A standard article and advertised it widely, the 
merchant comes in, and the co-operation of the 
two means profit for both. 

It is one of the curiosities of modern merchandizing 
that there are even in these enlightened days salesmen 
who look upon advertising as an invasion of their 
special prerogatives — and some of them actually count 
liberal advertising as an objection to the recommenda- 
tion of the article advertised. 

This would be absurd did we not remember that in all 
progress there has been protest against improvements 
whose purpose is to save time and advance merit. 
It seems grotesque, of course, but it is true. Machinery 
has caused riots. Railroads were going to kill or maim 
all the live stock. The omnibus rebelled when the 
street car came. The drivers of the horse cars fought the 
cable cars and regarded the trolley as their doom — and 
yet there are ten times as many men employed on 
electric cars to-day than in the horse-car days, and 

27 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

not only is their work easier but their wages are larger. 
The potentiality of each new generation almost doubles 
itself and this is true in the factory that produces the 
article of quality, the advertiser who announces it to 
the world and the man who sells it to the consumer. 

In truth the manufacturer and the advertiser work 
for the benefit of the dealer. 

Nothing better shows the innate good of progress 
than the elevation of the merchant. In the ancient 
times, when laws were few and man wanted but little 
here below, the merchant did not hold a high place. 
But gradually his part began and it was big with fate. 
He started the ventures that found new continents and 
established new colonies. Out of the increasing im- 
portance of his affairs grew most of the good laws. 
Thus it went on until even in England, the land of 
caste and privilege, one of the great writers was enabled 
to say more than one hundred years ago : "A true bred 
merchant is the best gentleman in the nation ; in knowl- 
edge, in manners, in judgment, he outdoes many of the 
nobility." 

In our own country the good merchant has stood 
for the best in all the relations of life, and our greatest 
preacher declared: "There is no class in society who 
can so ill afford to undermine the conscience of the 
community, or to set it loose from its moorings in the 
eternal sphere, as merchants who live upon confidence 
and credit. Anything which weakens or paralyzes this 
is taking beams from the foundations of the merchant's 
own warehouse." 

Gradually through all this advancement we have a 
new mercantile standard — the standard of one price, of 
direct responsibility, of no misrepresentation. It is 

28 



HOW TO SPEND IT 

right moraUty and it is also good business. A pleased 
customer is the best advertiser, says the motto, and the 
only way to hold this customer is to seU standard goods 
be4ad which are aU the bulwarks of quaUty and re- 

habihty. . . . „, „, 

One of the greatest merchants m Amenca was asked 

about his success. 

"It was as simple as the alphabet," he saad, I read 
the advertisements, kept informed about the best 
products of the leading manufacturers and took advan- 
tage of the very remarkable movement m quahty that 
has been the most distinguishing fact m our manu- 
facturing and mercantile Ufe during the last thirty 
years. By domg this I educated myself m the bes . 
As a salesman I made no mistake because the goods 
were aU right and if there happened to be an accident 
there was a way to rectify the mistake. Thus on the 
good reputation of others I built my own reputation, 
and being on a solid basis it has done me good ser^ce 
and brought me whatever success I may have. _ 

This is the new type of merchant. Under him is the 
new t>T)e of salesman who ^A\\ be the big merchant of 
to-morrow. They are students of advertising because 
through these announcements they find what the pro- 
ducers of the country are doing in the way of quahty. 

The man who introduces a better article to a cus- 
tomer not only pleases that customer but estabhshes a 
confidential relation of the very greatest advantage. 
A continuation of this poUcy means that the salesman 
becomes a guide for the pubUc and his value outside 
of his work in the store is of much importance and con- 
sequence. So it goes on and his own personal respon- 
sibihty gets to be an asset in the business of the firm 



29 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

with which he is connected, and it is only a matter of 
time when he himself will be called upon to a higher 
and more lucrative station. This is happening every 
day, every hour in the day. 

The big merchants of to-morrow are the conscientious 
clerks and salesmen of to-day. 

This brings us to a point which the salesman cannot 
afford to ignore. Great fortunes have been made in 
the retail trade. Greater fortunes are yet to be made. 
But the old days of sharp dealing are past, only some 
retailers do not know it. They are the ones who try 
the short cuts — who seek illegitimate profits in substi- 
tutions and the like, and, although they may prosper 
for a day, they generally end in bankruptcy. 

No retailer can last who does not comit public 
confidence first in his list of assets, and he cannot have 
this confidence unless he sells goods honestly. That 
means giving to his customers what they ask for and 
not trying to palm off on them something "just as 
good." This is the plain truth of the retail situation 
in America to-day. 

We hear some people complaining that the oppor- 
tunities are not what they used to be. No, they are 
bigger and greater — and they are different. Goods are 
in better form; quality is guaranteed in responsible 
labels and trade-marks, and the retailer finds his path 
clearer and smoother than it has ever been. 

The success of any business depends upon the con- 
tinuation and increase of its patronage. If it does not 
hold its customers it is not on a safe basis. 

Many years ago Lord El don gave this definition : "The 
good-will of a trade is nothing more than the probability 
that the old customers will resort to the old place." 

30 



HOW TO SPEND IT 

Success in business is in bringing back the customer. 
The way to bring him back is to give him satisfaction 
and satisfaction is to be found only in quahty, and 
quality is guaranteed only in the standard articles 
which the reputable manufacturers produce and adver- 
tise. Thus there is a close and maescapable connection 
between quahty and success. , . , , 

No merchant with any sense any longer thinks he can 
prosper by sharp practises. The rule about this is the 
same as it ever was. The man who practises deceit 
deprives liimself of "the most important u^trument of 
action— namely confidence." 

Another important point should be mentioned here. 
The merchant who is disposed to be more smart than 
square does not fuUy reahze the risks he is running. 
His hue of pohcy means demoraUzation for his whole 
force He may think that he can hire virtue to make 
up for his own lack of it, but he will be apt to realize the 
force of the remark of Josh Billings, who declared: 

"If yu undertake to hire a man to be honest, yu will 
hav to raize hiz wages every morning, and watch him 
dredfhull cluss besides." 

On the other hand, the merchant of high character 
who is as standard in his business as he is in the articles 
he sells, generates among his men a spirit of trust and 
rehance which not only makes his force of better moral 
quality, but attracts to his place of business a more 
profitable patronage. _ 

Bishop Whately has given the psychological reason 
for this by citing the case of a person who once held 
office of high importance and of vast difficulty and 
dehcacy. This man was enabled to say after more 
than thirty years' experience, though he had been 
31 



THE FAMIL Y INCOME 

obliged to employ many persons in confidential services 
and to impart to them some most momentous secrets, 
he had never once had his confidence betrayed. He 
used his judgment, of course, but the great force was 
his own belief in the quality standards, and by this he 
strengthened his men with his own confidence. 

So by sticking to standards, the salesman has every- 
thing to win and nothing to lose. Through them he is 
safe; he attracts the right trade; he is in line for promo- 
tion, and opportunity is watching him. 



32 



CHAPTER VI 

THE FAMILY INCOME 

The large part the consumer plays in the 
problem of standards — quality products 
mean safety and economy to the household 
purse — the question of confidence — saving 
of time — some interesting instances, 

IN describing a Creole settlement, Washington Irving 
wrote: "The Almighty Dollar, that great object 
of universal devotion throughout our land, seems 
to have no devotees in these pecuhar villages." 

The sentence is valuable as containing the origin of 
one of the most familiar of American terms. Its 
fitness and usefulness were recognized from the start 
and there was much comment, some of it serious, so 
that later Irving felt compelled to add the following 
footnote : 

"This phi'ase, used for the first time in this sketch, 
has since passed into current circulation, and by some 
has been questioned as savoring of irreverence. The 
author, therefore, owes it to his orthodoxy to declare 
that no irreverence was intended, even to the dollar 
itself, which he is aware is daily becoming more and 
more an object of worship." 

Ours is the land of the almighty dollar; our wealth 
per person is more than three times as great as that of 
the average of the world. We have recently met what 
has been termed the most extraordinary prosperity 

33 



THE FAMIL Y INCOME 

ever known. And yet there is not one family in ten 
that is not obHged to exercise constant watchfulness in 
order that its income may not be exhausted by the 
outgo. With all the unprecedented riches boasted 
about in reports and Presidential messages, the majori- 
ty of us must look keenly to our expenditures or our 
balances will be on the wrong side of the ledger. We 
may repeat the words of the old song: 

This world is the best that we live in 

To loan, or to spend, or to give in; 

But to beg or to borrow, oi to get a man's own, 

'Tis the very worst world, sir, that ever was known. 

The problem that the most of us have is to get our 
own, to get value for our money. All this brought down 
to the last analysis means plain common sense and 
economy. 

Fortunately, the world has grown better and it is 
easier for a man to get his own than it ever was. 

Here is where the quality standards serve the average 
person. First, we have the manufacturer who pro- 
duces the standard articles, next the advertising which 
tells us of them, and then the merchant who keeps 
them — or should keep them — in stock. 

So now the responsibility has reached the individual. 

It is important for all to know that the standard 
articles represent the maximum of value and safety at 
the minimum of cost. Realizing that, customers 
should be sure to ask for the best and should see that 
they get the best. If their dealers are not yet convert- 
ed to the principles and practises of quality, the con- 
sumers should by their insistence make due provision 
that they are not victims of the ignorance and folly of 
others. 

34 



HO W TO SPEND IT 

This duty falls especially upon the women of the 
family. They are the spenders of the income. Upon 
them is the larger responsibility of obtaining one 
hundred cents worth of value for the dollar spent: 
Instinctively they seek bargains. Their whole experi- 
ence has been in that direction. They have never had 
money enough to be extravagant, so it is perfectly 
natural for them to yield to temptation in purchasing 
things whose price may be a httle less. On this con- 
dition the dealer who does not stick to standards 
works, and it can be seen that his capacity for mischief 
is almost limitless. 

A woman said the other day: "I have tried for our 
home all the reasonable fads and suggestions, all the 
schemes that promise to make housekeeping easier and 
to contribute to the comfort of the home. I have 
made experiments in every direction, none of them too 
severe to hurt anyone's feelings. And after it all I 
have come to the conclusion that what my husband 
and my sons and daughters want, what they are best 
satisfied with, is good quality in the usual things that 
make up the list in keeping and feeding the family." 

This, we take it, is also the lesson from other homes. 
Our food, our dress and our convenience represent the 
results of the evolution that has been going on in hu- 
man affairs for many centuries and it is dangerous to 
attempt any radical innovation or revolution in the 
settled domestic program. 

Then it follows that the wise course for the house- 
keeper is to get the best qualities in things needed 
for the family. Not so many years ago it was neces- 
sary for her to solve her difficulties only by much im- 
patient searching and many anxious trials. The 
35 



THE FAMIL Y INCOME 

coming of quality, with standards duly fixed and pro- 
tected, has been to her a most useful blessing. To-day 
there is absolutely but one safety and that is to buy the 
articles which are backed by the names and responsi" 
bility of firms of established reputation. 

The reputable dealer has these always on hand and 
if he has them not and seeks excuse for not handling 
them, the consumer should lose no time in finding 
another store where satisfaction can be obtained and 
guaranteed. 

Here is an admirable statement to woman — the one 
who spends the money for the home — and it should be 
read carefully: 

"The woman who does her part well cannot escape 
her share in one of the most important duties of family 
life — the necessities, or comforts, or refinement that she 
buys for her family, her husband, or herself. 

"No matter how the family funds come to you, dear 
madam, they represent the thought and work, the 
very life-strength, perhaps, of someone who is dear — 
a husband, or father, or son. It is only money when 
it comes to your hands — useless to keep, or to wear, or 
to warm, or entertain, or improve the family life. 
You are the one who must change it into food and 
clothing, family improvement and entertainment. 
Don't think of it merely as 'money.' Remember every 
moment that in the essence it is the life and energy, 
care and toil of someone who is dear to you. When 
you change it for home supplies, each dollar in your 
purse, whether you spend it for comfort or for necessi- 
ties, for home improvements or for family enjoyment, 
must yield the best value and satisfaction you can 
find. 

36 



HOW TO SPEND IT 

"In all the duties of a good woman's life there is none 
more sacred than this — the duty of Wise Buying. 
And one of the most grievous wrongs that you could do 
to your home Hfe or to yourself would be carelessness 
when exchanging for home needs the money that 
represents almost the hfe-blood of one who loves you 
and has done his best. 

"Life, as it grows more complex and more comfort- 
able, gi'ows busier. It gives you less time for choosing, 
and requires you to choose and buy a wider range of all 
kinds of articles. Many of these articles are things 
that you purchase again and again, week after week. 
You could not possibly live the life you do if you were 
forced to examine 'quality', 'quantity' and 'probable 
satisfaction' of every article you buy, every time you 
buy it. 

"And when you buy any article — good value or bad 
— the money you pay is not all that it costs you. 
Part of the cost is the time that you spend in selecting 
it, inspecting its quality, quantity and the probable 
satisfaction it Avill give — in a word, its value. 

"Only a woman who is idle indeed will deny the 
value of that time, taken from her other occupations 
and duties. And only a short-sighted woman would 
be extravagant of her time, while straining for economy 
with her money. 

"Suppose every time, before you bought oatmeal, or 
sugar, or thread, or soap, you had to examine every 
bit of your purchase to make sure that the oatmeal 
and augar were full weight and free from taint, dirt or 
adulterant ; to make sure that the soap would really do 
as much work, do it as easily, as well, and as harmlessly 
as any other soap you could buy for the money ; and to 

37 



THE FAMIL V INCOME 

make sure that the thread would hold wherever you 
stitched it, without causing loss and extra work by- 
breaking. Think how all that extra time that you 
would have to spend on every purchase would add to 
the cost of articles that you buy every day. 

"When you buy an article, the test of wise buying is 
seldom in the article itself — almost always the real test 
is in the service and satisfaction it gives you in com- 
parison to the money you pay. You would refuse, of 
course, to buy lettuce if you saw that half the leaves 
would have to be thrown away, or to buy apples if you 
saw that the work and waste of discarding defective 
pieces would make them cost you dearer in the end 
than if you had bought better fruit, at a higher price. 
That same wise reasoning must apply to every purchase 
that you make. Coffee that costs you 'only half as 
much' is not as good value if you must use twice as 
much of it to make a cup, and if the cup then gives less 
satisfaction. It is satisfaction that you are buying in 
nearly every case. Do not forget that. Remember it 
whenever you judge the value of any purchase." 

We want to emphasize as strongly as we can your 
own personal responsibility in the matter of getting the 
best after you ask for it. 

You know in a general way that Congress passed a 
pure food law, and you may be thinking that this 
measure gives you all the protection you need. If so, 
you had better undeceive yourself. It is only inter- 
state traffic that the law reaches — and it doesnt reach 
all of that, for violations are very difficult of detection. 
It helps you to the extent of reducing the shipping 
of adulterated and misbranded goods from one state to 
another, but it doesn't even touch impure foods sold 

38 



HO W TO SPEND IT 

in states in wliich they are manufactured or misbrand- 
ed. Thus, you are still at the mercy of the swindlers of 
your own state, unless your state happens to have its 
own laws, and even then you are not even half pro- 
tected. The truth of the matter is that you must look 
out for yourself. 

So much is said about purity and impurity of foods 
that one may forget other goods. But the evils are as 
bad in these other things as they are in foods. It may 
be soap, or powder, or varnish, or a mattress, or carpets, 
or furs, or pianos, or motor cars, or underwear, or 
furniture, or stoves, or corsets, or toothpowder, or 
millinery, or any of the hundi-eds of articles in the vast 
emporium of publicity. There is not one of these 
things that does not have standards for the customer's 
protection and benefit. 

END. 



MAY 20 1907 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





014 230 057 6 • 



